DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
This office action is in response to the amendments/remarks filed on 08/03/2026. Claims 1-16 are pending; claims 1-4, 7 have been amended.
Claim Interpretation
The term “portion” does not have definition in the specification. Under BRI, the
term “portion” is interpreted as segment or part or piece of a whole structure.
The term “connected” does not have definition in the specification. Under BRI, the term “connected” encompasses directly or indirectly (via intermediate elements).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-9, 11-13, 15-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ODAIRA (US 20200217379 A1 cited from IDS) in view of TOMIZAWA (US 20140339966 A1)
Claim 1: ODAIRA discloses a disk brake (1; Fig.3) comprising:
a motor (31);
a rotation-linear motion conversion mechanism (114,115, 116) configured to convert a rotational motion transmitted from an output shaft (32) of the motor (31) into a linear motion to cause a frictional pad (2) to be pressed (¶[0037] , [0063])
a first board portion (74) connected to (via 91, see ¶[0024]) the motor (31) and disposed opposite from an output shaft side of the motor (31) in an axial direction of the output shaft (32); wherein the output shaft (32) extends from the motor (31) toward the rotation-linear motion conversion mechanism (114,115,116),
ODAIRA does not disclose a second board portion connected to the first board portion and disposed so as to face the first board portion; wherein with respect to an axial direction of the output shaft, the motor is arranged between (i) the rotation-linear motion conversion mechanism and (ii) the first and second board portions, wherein the output shaft extends from the motor toward the rotation-linear motion conversion mechanism, and the second board portion is spaced apart from the first board portion by a predetermined distance in the axial direction of the output shaft of the motor, and wherein the first board portion and the second board portion are disposed so as to be spaced apart from the output shaft of the motor in the axial direction of the output shaft of the motor.
TOMIZAWA teaches a drive apparatus (1, Fig.1) having a motor (20) with output shaft (35), a first board portion (75/70), a second board portion (70/75); a second board portion (70/75) connected to the first board portion (75/70) and disposed so as to face the first board portion (75/70, as shown in Fig.1); and the second board portion (75/70) is spaced apart from the first board portion (70/75) by a predetermined distance (gap between 75 and 70 as shown in Fig.1) in the axial direction of the output shaft (35) of the motor (20), and wherein the first board portion (75/70) and the second board portion (70/75) are disposed so as to be spaced apart from the output shaft (35) of the motor (20) in the axial direction of the output shaft (35) of the motor (20).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify control board arrangement of ODAIRA to include axially spaced control and board portions as taught by TOMIZAWA in order to provide separate control and power circuitry at axial end of the motor while reducing vibration from motor to controller.
Accordingly, the combination of ODAIRA as modified by TOMIZAWA, with respect to an axial direction of the output shaft (32-ODAIRA), the motor (31- ODAIRA) is arranged between (i) the rotation-linear motion conversion mechanism (114,115,116-ODAIRA) and (ii) the first and second board portions (70, 75-TOMIZAWA).
Claim 2: ODAIRA as modified by TOMIZAWA discloses the disk brake according to claim 1, wherein the frictional pad (2-ODAIRA) is pressed against a disk rotor (D-ODAIRA), and wherein the first board portion (75- TOMIZAWA) and the disk rotor (D) are disposed on opposite side of the second board portion (70- TOMIZAWA) opposite of the second board portion (70-TOMIZAWA) from the disk rotor (D) in an axial direction of the disk rotor (as the modified device of ODAIRA, 75 and D each is disposed on opposite side of 70 in axial direction. ).
Claim 3: ODAIRA as modified by TOMIZAWA discloses the disk brake according to claim 1, wherein the first board portion (75-TOMIZAWA) includes a portion (see annotated Fig. below) that does not overlap the second board portion (70-TOMIZAWA) in a direction (axial direction) in which the disk rotor (D) is pressed by the frictional pad (2), and a component (61) longer than the predetermined distance (as shown in Fig.1, 61 has a portion with a width longer than a gap between 75 and 70 as shown in Fig.1) is mounted on the portion (“mounted on” does not have any specific definition in the specification. Thereof, the phrase “mounted on” is interpreted under BRI, “mounted on” does not require direct contact between the component and portion of the board. In this case,61 is attached to 75 through its terminal and wiring, see ¶[0061]).
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Claim 5: ODAIRA as modified by TOMIZAWA discloses the disk brake according to claim 1, wherein a heat-generating component (e.g. capacitor) is mounted on the first board portion (75- TOMIZAWA) (see ¶[0064] of TOMIZAWA: “electric and/or electronic parts, such as, a capacitor (not shown), a choke coil (not shown) and so on, are mounted to the power board 75”).
Claim 6: ODAIRA as modified by TOMIZAWA discloses the disk brake according to claim 1, wherein the first board portion (75- TOMIZAWA) is larger than the second board portion (70- TOMIZAWA) in area (non-overlapped area, see annotated Fig. below rejection of claim 3.).
Claim 7: ODAIRA as modified by TOMIZAWA discloses the disk brake according to claim 2, wherein the first board portion (75- TOMIZAWA) includes a portion (see annotated Fig. below rejection of claim 3) that does not overlap the second board portion (70- TOMIZAWA) in a direction in which the disk rotor (D-ODAIRA) is pressed by the frictional pad (2-ODAIRA), and a component (61- TOMIZAWA) longer than the predetermined distance (as shown in Fig.1, 61 has a portion with a width longer than a gap between 75 and 70 as shown in Fig.1) is mounted on the portion.
Claim 8: ODAIRA as modified by TOMIZAWA discloses the disk brake according to claim 2, wherein a heat-generating component (e.g. capacitor) is mounted on the first board portion (75- TOMIZAWA) (see ¶[0064] of TOMIZAWA: “electric and/or electronic parts, such as, a capacitor (not shown), a choke coil (not shown) and so on, are mounted to the power board 75”).
Claim 9: ODAIRA as modified by TOMIZAWA discloses the disk brake according to claim 3, wherein a heat-generating component (e.g. capacitor) is mounted on the first board portion (75- TOMIZAWA) (see ¶[0064] of TOMIZAWA).
Claim 11: ODAIRA as modified by TOMIZAWA discloses the disk brake according to claim 7, wherein a heat-generating component (e.g. capacitor) is mounted on the first board portion (75- TOMIZAWA) (see ¶[0064] of TOMIZAWA).
Claim 12: ODAIRA as modified by TOMIZAWA discloses the disk brake according to claim 2, wherein the first board portion (75-TOMIZAWA) is larger than the second board portion (70-TOMIZAWA) in area (non-overlapped area, see annotated Fig. below rejection of claim 3.).
Claim 13: ODAIRA as modified by TOMIZAWA discloses the disk brake according to claim 3, wherein the first board portion (75-TOMIZAWA) is larger than the second board portion (70-TOMIZAWA) in area (non-overlapped area, see annotated Fig. below rejection of claim 3.).
Claim 15: ODAIRA as modified by TOMIZAWA discloses the disk brake according to claim 5, wherein the first board portion (75-TOMIZAWA) is larger than the second board portion (70-TOMIZAWA) in area (non-overlapped area, see annotated Fig. below rejection of claim 3.).
Claim 16: ODAIRA as modified by TOMIZAWA discloses the disk brake according to claim 7, wherein the first board portion (75-TOMIZAWA) is larger than the second board portion (70-TOMIZAWA) in area (non-overlapped area, see annotated Fig. below rejection of claim 3.).
Claim(s) 4,10, 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ODAIRA (US 20200217379 A1 cited from IDS) in view of TOMIZAWA (US 20140339966 A1) and further in view of KOBAYASHI (US 20200313505A1)
Claim 4: ODAIRA discloses a disk brake comprising:
a motor (31);
a rotation-linear motion conversion mechanism (114,115,116) configured to convert a rotational motion transmitted from an output shaft (32) of the motor (31) into a linear motion to cause a frictional pad (2) to be pressed (¶[0037] , [0063]);
a first board portion (74) connected to (via 91, ¶[0024]) the motor (31)
ODAIRA does not disclose first board portion is disposed on a radially outer side of the motor, a second board portion connected to the first board portion and disposed so as to face the first board portion and be spaced apart from the first board portion by a predetermined distance, wherein the first board portion and the second board portion are located on a plane parallel with the output shaft of the motor.
TOMIZAWA teaches a drive apparatus (1, Fig.1) having a motor (20) with output shaft (35), a first board portion (75/70), a second board portion (70/75); a second board portion (70/75) connected to the first board portion (75/70) and disposed so as to face the first board portion (75/70) and be spaced apart from the first board portion (75/70) by a predetermined distance (gap between 75 and 70 as shown in Fig.1) , wherein the first board portion (75/70).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify control board arrangement of ODAIRA to include axially spaced control and board portions as taught by TOMIZAWA in order to provide separate control and power circuitry at axial end of the motor while reducing vibration from motor to controller.
KOBAYASHI teaches a motor (11) having output shaft (13) and a control board assembly (100) includes first board portion (axial portion of 160. As 160 constitutes a portion of overall board assembly 100 and thereby satisfies “board portion” under BRI.) is disposed on a radially outer side of the motor (11 which includes stator 22, rotor 20),and the second board portion (portion 102, fig.4) are located on a plane parallel with the output shaft (13) of the motor (11).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to arrange the first and second board portions of the modified system of ODAIRA to be radially outer side of the motor the modified system of ODAIRA and the board portions of the modified system of ODAIRA extend parallel with the output shaft of the motor of the modified system of ODAIRA as taught by KOBAYASHI in order to reduce the axial dimension of the motor assembly.
Claim 10: ODAIRA as modified by TOMIZAWA and KOBAYASHI discloses the disk brake according to claim 4, wherein a heat-generating component (e.g. capacitor) is mounted on the first board portion (75- TOMIZAWA) (see ¶[0064] of TOMIZAWA).
Claim 14: ODAIRA as modified by TOMIZAWA and KOBAYASHI discloses the disk brake according to claim 4, wherein the first board portion (75-TOMIZAWA) is larger than the second board portion (70-TOMIZAWA) in area (non-overlapped area, see annotated Fig. below rejection of claim 3).
Response to Amendment/Argument
The previous objection to the title has been withdrawn in light of the amendment to the title.
The previous claim objection has been withdrawn in light of the amendment to claim 3.
The previous rejection of claims 4, 10, 14 under 35 USC 112 (b) has been considered and is persuasive in light of the remarks on page 6-7.
Applicant' s arguments with respect to the rejections under 35 USC 103 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on the same combination of referenced applied in the prior rejection. TOMIZAWA is relied to teach the newly added limitation in independent claim 1 and KOBAYASHI is relied to teach the newly added limitation in independent claim 4 (see rejections above).
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Wallington (US 20230340902 A1) discloses board 180b is radially outside of the motor.
Yamashita (US 20120223624) discloses board 34 is radially outside of the motor.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Lillian T Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)270-5404. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ernesto Suarez can be reached at (571)270-5565. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LILLIAN T NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 3655a
/ERNESTO A SUAREZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3655
